Stacking Stones​A Creative Craft Blog

From the mind of Jason Kapcala comes an eclectic journal dedicated to the study of creative writing, rock music, tailgating, and other miscellany. The musings, meditations, contemplations, and ruminations expressed here are my own unless otherwise indicated. Please feel free to share your comments, thoughts, and opinions, but do so respectfully and intelligently.

We've reached the end of the month, and that means only one more week until I reveal the new format of the Saturday Morning Soundtrack series. What better way to wrap up my current list of songs than to review a piece that's a bit off the beaten path. This week, I'll be taking a close look at an instrumental number composed and performed by friend and fellow music blogger Dan Joyce. Dan has also been generous enough to agree to a short Q & A after the review. Score!

Need to catch up with the series? Want to play the songs seamlessly while you write, work, or exercise? Saturday Morning Soundtrack is now available on Youtube. Just click "Play All" once and relive all of the past tracks the way they were meant to be heard. And keep checking back with "Stacking Stones" each week for new songs and more commentary.

Best viewed in 1080p HD(use the gear icon on the bottom right of the video to change quality)

"Infinite Blue" -- Dan Joyce (2006)

The song is titled "Infinite Blue." So you know straight away that it's going to to be a swirling, atmospheric plunge into those vast and depthless places that remain mostly untouched by human explorers. The infinite arm of outer space. The cold breach of the Marianas Trench. These places fascinate us because they make us feel small, remind us of just how much we don't know, can't see, haven't conquered. And while there are metaphorical implications, too--for example, those parts of the human mind that remain a mystery to us--this song is not nihilistic about our limitations. Ominous? Yes. Expansive? Most certainly. But it doesn't brood. Through the use of electronic synthesizer and keyboard, Dan Joyce creates a piece of music that seems to both wander and wonder about the largeness of the universe without despairing over our seeming insignificance or "how little it all means." This song is about being in awe.

As you listen to the track, it becomes clear that this is the kind of music you might hear on the soundtrack to any number of movies or nature shows (Planet Earth, anyone?) or even a planetarium show. I mean that as a high compliment--one can easily imagine how this song, with its layered, eddying sound and its subtle melody would only enhance our appreciation of those places in our universe that seem most wondrous, most unfathomable.

In fact, when I first heard this piece, it reminded me of those videos you sometimes come across on Youtube where high frequency microphones capture radio waves that have been converted into sound. (They call it the singing of the planets.) Or the performance I once caught on Princeton public radio, where an avant garde performer strung a large cable across a remote warehouse and, using hyper-sensitive microphones, recorded for a half-hour all the reverberations it made as the earth trembled and shifted around it. It's an easy association to make. However, the more I listen to "Infinite Blue," the less satisfied I am with my earlier comparison. Yes, all of these pieces are atmospheric. But what makes "Infinite Blue" better than those recorded audio phenomenons, is that it brings artistic sensibility into play. A large reverberating wire, recording the infinitesimal humming of the earth's poles can be fascinating, but after a few minutes, it can also become repetitive, directionless, even boring. Dan Joyce's song, on the other hand, has been composed with an audience in mind. It's aiming to create a specific effect. It's not just sound. It's music. Human music. And there's nothing accidental about it.

What I find most impressive about this arrangement is that this song manages to convey its theme without the aid of lyrics. It tells its tale of interstellar travel through its composition, chord progression, and instrumentation. The deep rumble that opens the piece. The phaser sounds that pass through the piece. The steady drum track that ticks away, seemingly without end--like time--repeating itself with only little changes or variances. And, of course, the lone flute that stands out in stark contrast to all of these atmospheric effects. It's the kind of song you can listen to over and over again for all of the little secrets it reveals with each new listen. My favorite little wrinkle concerns that sustained fluttering background sound that starts about six seconds into the song. By the end (3:34) it has slowed down, oscillating in half-time as the song winds down to a close. That's the kind of painstaking attention to detail that (paradoxically) makes this song feel so unauthored--so organic and dreamy and natural.

Q & A with Dan Joyce

Kap: So this is kind of special for me--the chance to interview you about one of your songs after years of playing music together. I think the thing I like most about this particular track is how atmospheric it is. (It's great music to write to, man! I can have it on softly and I just start typing away like a maniac!) Can you talk a bit about the mood or aesthetic you were trying to evoke with this song? Is there a narrative to the piece do you think (a story you had in your mind when you were writing it, for instance) or is it more like an abstract painting that's meant to be experienced conceptually?

Dan: Well, thanks, man, I appreciate that you enjoy the song. Typically, song ideas just appear to me. I’ll hear a rhythm in my head or punch out a melody on the piano. Then try to write it down and find out where it leads. In this case, however, I intentionally set out to write something "atmospheric." I wanted a song in a minor key, with layered sounds and voices all blending together. It began as a simple quest for some ambient sounds to carry the melody. Then I just let it evolve naturally.

Kap: How did you settle on "Infinite Blue" as the title?

Dan: I came up with the title after finishing the song. To me, the sounds speak to the infinite nature of time and space. From the repeating themes to the gradual build up and break down of the instrumentation, I tried to make create something that would sound as if it could continue on forever. The lead voice sounds lonely, just a voice singing out into the vastness. But if you listen, those notes and rhythms are carried onward, through the echoes and bubbling distortion, so that even when the flute ends, the essence of the voice continues on until the end of time.

Kap: Because I know you, I happen to know that this song is part of a larger project that coincided with your and Kelly's wedding. Can you talk a little about where that idea came from?

Dan: We were trying to figure out a table gift. I liked the idea of a CD, especially considering how much we both like music. Somehow that idea evolved into me writing a set of songs. I went back to some things that were already written and reworked them. Other songs were written from scratch, like "Infinite Blue." It was a cool thing to contribute to the wedding.

Kap: It was a very cool table gift. And I remember you working hard on that project--burning copies of the discs on the night before. It's interesting that this was a track that you wrote new for the disc. Can you talk a little about the process you went through in writing this song, taking it from rough idea to finished product? How long did it take? What technology did you use?

Dan: I write for concept and practically. Since I compose music on keyboard or the computer, I try to stick with instruments that sound the most authentic. Keep in mind that I wrote "Infinite Blue" six or seven years ago without any professional tools. I used my keyboard to develop the chord progression and melody and to get an idea of the types of sounds that might work well together. I used Noteworthy Composer to put it all together. Then I re-recorded the midi from NWC with Calkwalk’s Music Creator software. With this software, I added effects to try enrich the sounds.

It was particularly challenging with this song, because the original draft from NWC sounded nothing like the finished product. I could only imagine what the sounds would become later on. With other songs, the original is pretty close to the final product, but with this one I knew I wanted heavier effects later on which made it more difficult to write.

Kap: Working "blind" like that had to have been tough. You didn't use any analog instruments?

Dan: All of the instrumentation is computer-generated. I used flute, multiple synth keyboards, hand drums, reverse cymbal, bell, and even a helicopter sound effect.

Kap: That's wild. Okay, so it may just be me--and it may just be that I know we are both big fans of the movie The Crow--but I couldn't help but think of Graeme Revell's score to that movie as I was listening to this piece. The instrumentation is different, but there's a similar sensibility, I think. Where do you stand on that? Is that soundtrack something you would cite as an active influence? Was it a subconscious thing? Or am I totally out to sea on this one?

Dan: I can't say that The Crow soundtrack was a direct influence, but that score certainly sets the mood of the movie very well--which is an effect that I aspire to create.

Kap: Who would you cite as influences on this piece?

Dan: I'm influenced by everything I hear and see. The music I write tends to be different from the music I listen to or play on the piano, but I like to think that everything is an influence. For me, inspiration can come from art, literature, or the physical world. It’s fun to tinker around with the keyboard to see where it leads. I was bored in a college class one day and started tapping out a rhythm on the desk. As soon as class was over, I rushed back to my room to get out the keyboard and a song was born. I guess in that case, the inspiration was a lack of any better stimuli. (Editor's Note: I hope my students are reading this! --JK)

On "Infinite Blue," I can’t recall a specific musical influence. I tried to envision the energy that travels through space and time and then tried to capture that essence, in some small way, in a song. I was inspired by the constant bits of energy all around us and how that builds a larger arch of a universe constantly in motion.

Kap: Well, it's one of my favorites. And (like I said when I reviewed it) I think it's because of that spacious, building sensation. Thanks again for letting me share this song with the readers and for taking the time to answer these questions. As always, it's been a blast.

Dan: Any time! And thanks for the video--it looks and sounds good. I approve.

Please, feel free to leave a message in the comments below. And, if you would like to write a Guest Entry for the "Saturday Morning Soundtrack" series where you creatively respond to one of your favorite rock songs, don't hesitate to contact mewith queries.